When Chad and I started our little farm almost 5 years ago, we were as green as green gets! Chad did have a few years growing up on a farm when he was a boy. My dad was born and raised on 48 acres raising dairy cows in Kansas. Every summer my folks would pack up us kids and we would spend 14 fun filled hours in a car driving to KS to visit relatives and get some farm experience! Well, even thou my father hated farm life, it must have rubbed off on me because as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of having horses and other critters! Unfortunately, life does a detour forcing your dreams to take a back seat until the time is right. My time came when the Lord opened a door for us to live on a llama farm that was already well established in Laporte. Our first 2 Llamas were given to us by dear friends, I had our horses, Laci & Sparky on ‘lay-away’ until I could pay them off (yes you really can put a horse on lay-away!). Chad and I started this adventure together even thou some family members objected. We both felt like it was God’s will for us to start our own little farm, making it a blessing for young family’s with little ones. Our herd has grown from 2 llamas and 2 horses up to 4 llamas, 1 alpaca, a donkey, 2 goats, our original horses, various chickens, 3 quackers and too many barn kitties, not to mention the escaped bunnies who are now helping the wild rabbit population go from basic brown to funny spots and droopy ears! We talk quite a bit about how different things could have been for us when the kids were growing up if we had the farm 14 years ago with all of Gods creatures, big and small a few feet away. I am so blessed to be here and I try not to take what God has given us for granted. I’m looking forward to sharing all this with many grandchildren. We hope to be the fun grandparent’s that are considered cool and have the ‘must-go-to’ place in the eyes of a child! A home where the next generation will always be safe, happy and drama free! We both desire that the days with Baba and G-pa, imprint sweet memories in the hearts of all our grandkids for years to come!
Category Archives: Horses
Peeking Lamas!
Our llamas love to look inside our house. They mosey up to the windows and peek in. They will also stand outside the back or front door when open watching us with curious eyes! There have been times when we walked from room to room, they followed us window to window. If I’m in the kitchen I can see one of the Llamas staring in at me. If I go from that room and into the living room, she will walk to each window peeking in until I’m in her line of sight again. One time I went from one room to another to see if the llamas’ would follow and for how long. We played the peek-a-boo game for almost 5 min. I went into the family room, they found that window and stood there. I snuck back into the kitchen, a llama or two trotted from window to window until they found me doing their stalk look. They enjoy looking through the glass door, it gives them a full view of the house with everything going on inside it! It makes them very happy!! I don’t know if I should call them nosy, curious or creepers!
The One Eyed Bunny
We have a brown bunny who has one eye and he lives in the barn with the other animals. He lived with us on our other farm and is around 3 years old. He is very friendly, not afraid of humans or the big animals that daily step around him or back away from the ‘one eye’! He hops to us when we enter the barn and he will sit on top of a hay bale not moving if you walk up to him. We let him live in the barn free, enjoying bunny life. Today ‘one eye’ as he is named, was eating a carrot that I brought to him in the middle of the barn where we trapped the unhappy ducks. One eye was so excited about his treat that he chased loose chickens away from it (who also like carrots, of course they like everything that isn’t theirs!) and let the ducks waddle over him multiple times which didn’t faze him at all, he just sat there nibbling away. So today I had a one eyed bunny kicking his back legs at chickens to protect his carrot as the 3 ducks jumped over and on top of him reaching for their own food. The quackers were also pecking hens away from their corn bites! Poor chickens, they had to eat their own food today, the kitties, ducks and bunny refused to share!!
llamas in the wrong place! (wrote on nov 6th)
Oh what a wonderful morning! The first thing I usually do is open my curtains to spy on the animals to see if they are being naughty or nice! This morning they have decided to be naughty! I see Sweetie our black Llama in the front field, where she is NOT suppose to be! NOT A GOOD SIGN! I quickly get dressed and run out the non-stop swinging door, which I seem to be doing allot lately. I can now see Sparky, the Tank and Dunkay in the Llama field, a very bad sign. I don’t see our boy Llama Stormy, Sammie or Lincoln, an ‘Oh NO’ sign! I sprint to the barn where I hear two Llamas fighting and Lincoln my Alpaca is now running to the back field screaming…I didn’t know Alpacas can scream! It’s an eerie sound, nothing like their warning call. In the barn are two full grown male Llamas that out weigh me by 150 pounds each, fighting, making sounds that would make a grown man stop and back away praying that they don’t see him! I have to form a plan, quickly. Do I let them fight their way out of the barn or do I yell like a crazy lady waving my arms outside where people can see me? I yell. They both stop, look at me, look back at each other, then back at me. I swear they both had a look of amusement on their faces. After sharing a laugh between themselves, they decided to go back doing what boy Llamas do best…fight. I gave up. I trudged my way through the thick mud to the back field and chased 2 horses and a donkey back into their own pasture. Meantime Lincoln is in the corner of the fence panicking, wailing out his distress sounds. Both goats are in the barn hiding under the food bin and the kitties are going about cat business, they want to be fed…now! Stormy decided that he had had enough of Sammy and searches for Lincoln which got him out of the barn. He galloped over to where Lincoln was trembling then chased him along the fence. A grunting Llama with his head close to the behind of a screaming Alpaca! Oh where was my camera! While those two were running back and forth, it gave me a chance to herd both girl Llamas into the side yard with the promise of tasty grain. Lincoln runs back to the barn with an angry Llama snipping and spitting close behind! By the grace of God, I got Sammy & Lincoln into a pen (where the goats were hiding) and shut the gate to keep Stormy our boy Llama from biting them! Now I have 2 girl Llamas in one field, 2 horses and a donkey in another with an unhappy boy llama running from barn to pasture where his girls are. Now all I have to do is trick 3 Lamas into their own territory! HA! With a cup full of desirable grain, a slide of the hand on the gate, along with a few herding tricks that involves out stretched arms mixed with my own animal noises, they are back where they belong! I shut everybody into their rightful places and inspect for damage inside the barn. Not too bad, they didn’t consume all the grain, 2 hay bales were toppled, the chicken and cat food I left out last night had been eaten and only 2 piles of horse poop in the main area. I gave the horses their pills and fed chickens along with kitties, I scolded everybody for being bad boys and girls which doesn’t do me any good, they only stare back with a blank expression. I will keep a close eye on the herd today. If they worked the inside gate open once, they will surely do it again.
Chad chases horses back into barn!
I looked out the window and Laci the mini tank was standing outside the barn as Sparky stood half way in the barn door. Laci was standing, not moving a muscle, staring at the house. I didn’t think too much of it until I looked out almost 15 min later and they were both in the same spot. Now on a normal day I wouldn’t have cared…I would have shook my head and thought to myself, ‘what a couple of ding bats’. But the wind chill is MINUS 50 and with open fields all around us, the wind is blowing hard! I watched them for a few moments and noticed that Laci was moving one foot up, then another….duh….she’s cold! Go inside! But she stands there, switching feet slowly freezing to death! Well my farmer instinct kicks in and realize she might be A. frozen to the ground or B. the cold has made her mind as fuzzy as her winter coat and she can’t figure out how to get back inside the barn! So what do I do??? I tell Chad to go out and chase the horses back in (I’m not going out there, its too cold for humans!). My faithful hubby gets bundled up with a forced ‘Yes Dear’ smile on his face to chase horses back into a barn as the wind blows tiny ice particle’s onto his exposed face making it go from warm to frost bite in less than 4 seconds! I watched him trudge through the thick snow with a warm heart, knowing that my hubby loves me and that the horses will be saved from Mother Natures wrath! He got to the barn and what did those horses do? They ran opposite from the barn and into the pasture! Chad sort of chased them back towards the barn but they did a wide circle around him and stood there facing him…oh good, a stand off! I could see him shaking his fist at them and I’m sure he was using threating words as his skin turned from pink to a frosty blue. He finally gave up and did what I always do, trick them back inside with tasty goat grain! These horses will follow a hand full goat grain to the ends of the earth! After a few tense moments and a few snickers on my end, he got the horses back the into barn!! Good job honey!
Chad Chasing Horses in Blizzard!
lets see, what was the most fun today?? Oh yeah, this is good….I was in the house when I heard Chad yelling out my name over and over. I look out the window to see Dunkay running past the garage headed to back yard. I quickly put on my coat and hat that I just peeled off to find Chad chasing 2 horses and a donkey away from the open gate that leads to the road! I go around the Jeep and Dunkay is coming back to greet me, happy to be playing. Chad is running towards the other two as I sprint past him to guard the gate. He loudly calls out his famous “Yee Haw” farmer yell, encouraging both horses to run in the direction of the barn. It didn’t work, they circled around the half buried car and maple tree, eyeing the wide opening that leads to freedom. I spread out my arms and do my baseball catchers stance as they run in my direction! Following close behind is Chad, arms out stretched, stomping clumsily through 18″ of blowing snow in his green, heavy one piece winter suit! Oh the fun! I successfully kept them from storming the gate! Dunkay and I stood together watching daddy chase his sisters around and around!! After about 5 min, the horses had enough of the blizzard and went back to the cozy warmth of the barn! Chad now panting, grumbled under his breath as I walked past him with Dunkay putting him in the barn with no problem. WOO-HOO!
Dances With Horses!
Dancing with horses is my new winter fun past time! All I need is a thick patch of ice and a horse with stubby little legs who makes up dance steps along with me. Laci the min tank, is a great partner! I slide to her, she slides past me. I grab for her mane as I skate on past, she does the splits. I twirl around trying to hang onto icy fur, she throws her head into the air as her hooves run without moving. After about 40 seconds of our dance, we both stand completely still, afraid to move. I look at her, she at me, each of us waiting for the other to move first. I roll my eyes, take a deep breath and try to move along side her, using her wet back as my brace on the ice. I got past my dance partner and carefully step towards the barn where Dunkay is standing watching the show. He comes trotting out with his ‘play time’ look in his eyes and trots towards me. This girl is not going to dance with a donkey. I turn around and go back to the house, no more dancing with animals!
Talking Goats
Okay…this was weird. I went out to feed everybody (their favorite past time) and the goats were in the far corner away from all the other animals, not unusual since they don’t like anyone else and keep to themselves. I noticed they were facing each other, almost nose to nose making soft grunting and baaaing sounds back and forth…like they were ‘talking’ to each other. They were so deep in ‘conversation’ that I didn’t want to break-up their special moment. So I stood there watching with a smile on my face silently kicking myself for once more forgetting to bring the camera out with me. I didn’t get to awwwww every long, Dunkay butted me from behind and the mini tank made sure I saw her, all of her. Apparently the other animals don’t think it’s as cute, they want to eat…..now.
Ahhhhh yes, the sounds of the New Year on the farm! My rooster who started a good 20-30 minutes early was right on cue at the stroke of midnight! He let it out his celebration crow loud and strong, following within seconds, were the neighbors across the street with their left over 4th of July fireworks! My dogs jumped up and started barking at all the outside party sounds as the famous lighted ball dropped in front of a million people dancing in the streets of New York City blasting from the TV. I’m shocked the goats weren’t staring at the house bleating out the ‘BAAAAAA feed me’ song they’ve been perfecting for months!
Rooster rings in the New Year…early!
Well the rooster has been practicing now for about 20 min to help bring in the new year! I wonder why he thinks it is his job to make sure everyone within 5 miles is up for the big event??!!
ONLY AT ADDIE ACRES 